Desert Law and Fremen Order
by broken mind
Summary: [Children of Dune] Prequel to The Prophet's Words. Leto learns what it means to walk the Golden Path but his memory will never fade.


Title: Desert Law and Fremen Order

Author: broken mind

Rating: PG 13 - R

Notes: This is my very own fictional approach to the Dune Saga. It's also the sequel to "The Prophet's Words" and is set nearly 3000 years after the first part.

I have not read the books.

Disclaimer: Everything in here is fully fictional. No copyright infringement is intended. The characters, except Saellyn, Thamal and Rahima, belong to their respective owners. A lack of canon and knowledge of the "Dune"-Saga may be forgiven.

**Desert Law and Fremen Order**

More than 3.000 years had passed, but the desert was ever changing. He did not know what to do anymore. For three millennia he had striven to save the desert from dying, to save the worms, the Spice and the Fremen. And yet it seemed to him that he had achieved only a small part of what he had imagined long ago. The change of the desert seemed inevitable. He had been successful in one thing, though. He had made undone what had been done in his father's name, in Muad'Dib's name. But his own fate he could not change.

He did not look like a human man anymore, but he did not look like a worm as well. He travelled the deserts like one of them and avoided the settlements of the Fremen, but his heart longed to be with them again. Even for a short time. He was tired and restless. His sister and his mother were long gone, their water spilled in the desert, as it was their way. From time to time he returned to the place where Stilgar and Varca had given their water to the hot sands of Arrakis, and every time he went there, the small piece of desert had changed. Once, right after Varca, the rightful heir to the position of the Naib of the Sietch Tab'r, had spilled Ghanima's water, Leto found a little flower growing in the sands. It was yellow, just like his sister's hair. He had knelt in front of it, and cried hot salty tears. He had not been crying for long years, not since he had left his past behind. But he still remembered the pain and the sorrow that he had felt back then.

But for him, time was no matter anymore. Decades flew by in an instant and he could hardly remember the days when they all died, Gurney, Stilgar, Varca, Ghanima, his mother Jessica, Farad'n, his father Muad'Dib, Alia and Saellyn, all the people he now longed to be with. All of them were gone and not to return to him. He knew that he could not live in the past, he had to move on.

How unkind destiny was, sometimes, he thought. But his sacrifice had saved many other people. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. With this in mind he tried to focus on the task at hand. Throughout the last 3.000 years, he had tried hard to save the desert but one man alone could never accomplish the task, he knew now. Even when this man was the Mahdi, the Only Chosen One. But was he, or had been the Mahdi? The chronicles of old told only of one, of Muad'Dib, his own father Paul Atreides. So then what was he?

Ghanima and Farad'n had been having 4 children. Two girls and two boys. The peace had lasted long enough for them to all live wonderful and long lives and give birth to many, many children. Those four children he had not seen during his absence, and also not the children of these children. He had been away too long. But he knew that they all had been living good lives as good Fremen as it had been the wish of their mother. Only once, he had seen his great-great-great-grand nieces and nephews and was pleased with the way they had been raised by their parents and the people they were living with. One of them, even though he could not believe it, seemed to recognize him even though he had tried to stay away as far as possible from the crowd of people. It was a woman, as beautiful as his deceased sister, yet she seemed much stronger and courageous like his own father. Her name was Maradé and she was already in her elder years when Leto saw her. He had made sure that she didn't see him for what he was in order not to scare her, but even if she saw what he was, what he had changed into, she did not show it. Her strength was so obvious that the people bowed low when she passed through the streets of Arrakeen. Leto knew that after Alia's regency there were no more Holy Regents in the Palace. Arrakeen was now merely governed by the sovereigns that were the successors of the Atreides family.

But none of all these children that were born after Leto and Ghanima had inherited the consciousness that he himself and his sister had inherited from his father. This was no wonder to him and he was very sure that there would not be anymore pre-born children. There would be Reverend Mothers, yes, but after what had happened to Alia, the Holy Regent, in Lady Jessika's womb before the little girl was born, the Fremen had stricter rules. The abomination that was Alia had caused too much destruction among the people to let it happen again.

He had been the last of those pre-born children, like his sister and his aunt Alia, the last Holy Regent of the Empire. Alia had lost the fight against the demons inside herself and sometimes, even he, Leto II, the Lion of the Atreides, had questioned himself if the path he had once taken was the right one. But he knew that there had been no other way for him.

Since the last great storm, right after the last battle of remaining Sardaukar of the Old Empire and the Fremen and their Fedaykin warriors, almost everybody had returned to the desert to live in Sietches and to follow the old ways, their old ways. So it had been for the past 3000 years. And Leto had seen them travel far over the desert plains to get to the Great Bled where there the desert still fought the changes, with a little success.

The change of the desert had continued and yet widened, but it seemed as if the Makers, the great Worms, had found a way to cope with the increasing retreat of the desert. All the plains around the Palace where the Atreides still ruled Arrakis, green grass had spread. In the skies, clouds were the unmistakable result of the moisture in the air. But beyond the far mountains, the desert was still the desert, dry, hungry, dangerous.

For long hours he ran on this day, and he felt that this day was a special day. It was not because of the bright sun or because of the light air. He had seen over-ground worm signs and that told him that there people had passed this place not long ago. People. Fremen. Where did they stay? There was no known Sietch close by, but the people who had ridden the worm must have found shelter somewhere. The old caves have long been destroyed by the retreating desert and the ongoing wars between the remaining Sardaukar and Fedaykin, spice-hunters and those who were in dire need of it. Time and the wind had done what they've always done, run and blown, so had he. He had run and he had seen it all change.

There were remains of a Sietch long gone, destroyed by the abomination that had been Alia. He knew this place, although he hadn't been here since the day of his transformation. This was Sietch Jakarotu, the place where everything had started. The water stealers, the outcast, who had held him captive for long days, who had tried to poison him with too much spice had then not known about the creature they had awakened.

But hadn't Alia ordered to have this Sietch destroyed? Hadn't all people who lived here been slain and murdered? Children? Women? Men? All of them were gone, killed by the desperate rage of a woman who had lost her mind.

But what was going on here? Why were there so many people? Why hadn't he found out about them any sooner? He was running the desert from one empty space to another, always running and yet he had not seen any of those people nor had he heard anything about the new population of the Sietch Jacarotu.

Those people here seemed as friendly as the people from Sietch Tabr. There was no trace of the old hostility as far as Leto could tell from the distance. The people who were living here were not the outcast of old, that he was sure of, but merely Fremen who searched for a new place to live.

Leto almost felt like home. Many people were here, and most of them good Fremen, as his father had predicted shortly before he was murdered. When he walked the streets unseen, he heard rumours and whispers of a pre-born child, of a child who had been awakened to consciousness long before its own birth in its mother's womb. But since his sister Ghanima and himself, Leto II, there had not been any pre-born children anymore, as far as he knew. And he knew almost everything. But where was this child? When there were rumours, there must have been a trace of that child that he could follow to find it. But there was none, not even a single sign.

He did not stay too long, for he feared to be recognized. Although it was not the fact of recognition that he really feared, but to scare the people here to death with what he looked like, now. It was what he had chosen when he had left Ghanima and his old life behind, when he had chosen to take the Sacr Nabai, the Golden Path. But when he was just about to leave the Sietch, he felt the presence of the one person he had been searching for, the pre-born child.

It was a young woman, only a girl, but she kept her pride and beauty as if she had been around for a long time. Leto crept closer, always trying to stay out of sight, when she now turned towards the desert and left the Sietch. He followed her, trying to keep his distance, but she walked slower and slower with almost each step. When they were out of sight of the Sietch, she suddenly turned around.

"Show yourself, Ghola!" she demanded with a fierce voice that didn't suit the frail body of hers. Although it was not the witch-voice of the Bene Gesserits, it was almost urging him forward, out of his hiding place. He lifted his head and walked towards her with all the grace and courage he could muster in his current situation, when he saw her smile, showing very white teeth. Her blue eyes, coloured by the effect the Spice had on the Fremen, sparkled with something that almost seemed to be pleasure.

He came quite close, closer than he would have ever imagined. He was almost within reach of the young woman's hand. And then it happened, what had not happened for nearly 3.000 years. The girl reached out and touched his cheek with a hand that felt like fire to him.

"The Sleeper has awakened!" he suddenly screamed, surprised of this, and the girl next to him fell to the ground, unconscious. He paid no heed and continued to scream with amazing strength. "The Sleeper has awakened and has been reborn as the spirit being." For long moments he felt that there was no air that he could breathe, but for this moment he knew that he did not need air. The world around him had stopped spinning and turned from blue to white. His vision became clear and for the first time in long centuries, he felt his own heart and soul again.

Slowly, the world around him returned to its normal state and the girl awoke. She grabbed his leg and clambered back up on her own feet.

"What did just happen?" she asked and wiped her face, confused. Then she stared at him. "What are you!" she exlaimed and stepped away when she felt secure on her own two legs to let go of his leg. But she answered the question herself. "You are the Great Worm, you are Shai-Hulud…" And she bowed low before him. There were tears in her eyes when she looked up at him again.

Leto didn't try to shush the girl. He had seen something in her eyes that reminded him of someone his father had once known, so many, many years ago. This fearless passion, the loyalty and dedication. He cocked his head and closed his eyes for a short moment to remember the name of that person.

"Otheym…" he whispered absentmindedly.

The little girl looked up to him. "Yes, yes, how come you remember him? He was nothing more than a warrior in your father's war. Otheym was here, he once lived here. He was the father of two strong children, Lichna and Thamal. You know what happened to Lichna before your birth, I am sure." She gave him an odd glance. "She was killed by a face dancer, but Thamal survived. I am one of his late children's children by my father Callon, but I feel like I have known Otheym like my own father. He is always close to me…I suppose this is because of your father." Suddenly she grew quiet, but kept gazing at him with this mocking but knowing stare. "He was a close friend of Paul Atreides, the man they call Muad'Dib. He was your father, wasn't he?"

How could she know all these things?

"I know that Otheym was a close friend to my father, and sometimes I wish I've had more time to spend with both of them…" he sighed. "But how could I have done that, I was not even born then…but what do you mean with all this?" Leto knelt down before her and took her hand. It was warm and pure, but at the same time cold with knowledge.

"You know what I mean, because it is what you mean. It is because of your father, because your father had no friend other than Stilgar and his Fremen, but no real friend, except Otheym. Your father was a warrior himself, but his heart yearned for a cure from all of this. He had Chani, but he felt her slipping away from him with each passing day. You know that. And he wanted a friend for you, after he realized that the path he had chosen was wrong. If the path you've chosen is the better one, I do not know. But we'll see about that. So I guess, fate had chosen me to meet you on your path."

Leto just knelt there and listened. The voice of the child was faint and barely audible, but he felt her words right inside his soul and mind. For the first time since he has turned into the creature the others called Shai-Hulud, the Great Worm, he felt alive.

"I am preborn," the child continued, "just like you are. My great grandmother was a Reverend Mother, and so was my mother. Now don't look at me like that, I am far too young to be another Reverend Mother, and you know perfectly how long the Bene Gesserits live. But my mother had made her choice just like your grandmother did. It was for the best for all of us. And you have made your choice, many years ago, as it was for the best for you."

"What is your name, child?" Leto finally asked after having listened to her for many minutes.

"You do not know?" the child smiled. "Ah well, I will tell you my name, but you must promise me that you will not forget it. I know that time does its own thing and has its own rules, but you must promise me. You remember a few names, I know. Your sister's name, your mother's name. Even your father's name. And you remember the name of a child you once loved…Saellyn, is that right? You carry her name in your heart, even though remembering her face is hard, the name is with you in your dreams. This is the place where I want you to keep my name, too…"

Leto nodded.

"My name is Rahima." The girl smiled again. "Are you hungry?"

Rahima brought him food and precious water, and Leto took it gratefully. He had never been hungry before, but now, the fresh water ran down his throat and cleared his mind and the fruits and bread filled not only his stomach but also his soul.

"Have you ever thought that this could be your future?" Rahima asked after Leto had finished.

"To know the future is to be trapped by it. But knowing that it is a trap is the first step in evading it. But I felt that it was my destiny to change…I had seen it, long before, I had seen what I would become. And I have never questioned my fate. I have chosen the Golden Path.

"Are you still a good Fremen?" the girl asked with that same odd glance she had been giving him before.  
"Yes…" he whispered after a while, but he meant it. "I am a good Fremen." His father had asked him the same question shortly before he had died.

Rahima smiled and reached out to touch his wormskin-covered cheek. "Yes, I see, you still are…and you'll always will be, my friend! Even though you are on the Sacr Nabai, the Golden Path, where no one else can follow you."

Leto thought about it for a while. "It's true, no one can follow me, but I can take names of people I knew and of places I've been with me…so I can remember who I am."

"That's true, dear friend. And now come with me, I will lead you to my Sietch and hopefully you can forget the horrible things that were done to you here many years ago before you leave us. We are not the same, none of us is, and none of the old water stealers that had held you captive live here anymore. They have gone, shattered by wind and sand, and only we remain.

The worm-like creature tilted his head. "Nothing was done to me here. They've only opened my eyes to the real world, they've made me see things that others will never see.

"Yes I know." Rahima lifted her head and smiled at him. This smile was so comforting that he accepted the invitation and followed her closely towards the Sietch with its many inhabitants.

But before they reached it, he hesitated. Rahima noticed it and turned around.

"Do not fear, friend, you do not have to go into the Sietch where everyone can see you. But let your mind travel and ease your pain of remembrance. Let us sit down on that rock, look towards the settlement and remember to look forward."

And so they did. They sat down and closed their eyes, Leto's hand locked with Rahima's. And their minds travelled. Leto felt like a human creature before and did not notice that while he and the girl were sitting there, some Fremen from the Sietch Jakarotu had surrounded them. All of them, all stunned by the look of the worm-like creature sank down to sit in the sand and watched silently, until Leto woke from his trance.

"You are…desert power!" an old man exclaimed and fell to his knees. He wiped his eyes and stared at Leto with an open mouth. Leto extended a hand and the old man took it gratefully.

"No, friend, you are desert power!" He looked around and saw relief in the faces of the people. "You all are desert power!" This was all the people had waited for. They slowly retreated towards the Sietch, bowing low before him. It seemed as if they had only come to hear him say exactly that.

"May Shai-Hulud clear the path before you…" a little boy screamed and ran away, laughing.

"I am Shai-Hulud…" Leto whispered but it was nothing more than a faint sigh in the wind that was growing stronger.

END


End file.
